Many electronic systems, such as data networks, have displays that indicate the status of conditions in the system. For example, in data networks, such as Ethernet networks, the display is used to indicate the status of certain conditions, such as whether there is activity at a certain port of a network switch, whether there is transmit or receive activity at a port, the indication of a collision of data frames, and the like. In other types of systems, such as telephonic communication devices, displays may be used to indicate the status of battery power, the signal strength, activity on the line, and the like. One of the most common display devices in electronic systems is a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display.
In most instances, a user may be interested in only a subset of the different conditions of the system. For example, in an Ethernet network, although there may be available status information related to the conditions of the link, full-duplex, receive, transmit, collision, and the like, a user may only be interested in information regarding the collision and the activity on ports of the network. A user of another network may only be interested in the transmit and receive activity on the network ports.
Conventionally, users must use a network switch or other device that displays information on all of the conditions, which can be unreasonable. Alternatively, the user can attempt to purchase a network switch or device that provides the status of the desired conditions. However, expensive and complex external logic may be needed to manipulate the data stream to the LED display to tailor the LED display to the requirements of the user. Thus, a user can find it difficult to receive the information regarding the system conditions that the user particularly desires and at low cost and with low complexity.